Kamala Harris: “Didn’t Ditch Buttigieg Because He’s Gay… Did It Because He’s Gay”
In an eyebrow-raising interview with MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, former Vice President Kamala Harris confirmed what many political observers had long suspected: Pete Buttigieg’s sexual orientation was a key factor in her decision not to pick him as her 2024 running mate.
Speaking candidly about her memoir 107 Days, Harris explained that while Buttigieg “would have been an ideal partner — if I were a straight white man,” she concluded that the combination of her being a black woman, married to a Jewish man, paired with a gay running mate, was simply “asking a lot of America.”
Maddow, clearly unsettled by the revelation, pushed back gently, asking Harris to clarify how the first woman vice president could justify such a rationale. “To say that he couldn’t be on the ticket effectively because he was gay, is hard to hear,” Maddow said.
NEW: Kamala Harris says she couldn’t pick Pete Buttigieg as her running mate because he is gay and there was only 107 days.
Maddow: To say that he couldn’t be on the ticket effectively because he was gay, it’s hard to hear.
Harris: No no no that’s not what I said… with the… pic.twitter.com/sKFGmWsg9G
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) September 23, 2025
Harris didn’t back down. She framed the decision as a cold political calculation, not a reflection of prejudice.
“I was clear that in 107 days, in one of the most hotly contested elections for president against someone like Trump, who knows no floor… the stakes were too high,” she said. “It made me very sad. But I also realized it would be a real risk.”
In other words: Buttigieg was too much “diversity” for one ticket.
Attempting damage control, Harris leaned into her history of LGBTQ activism: “I’ve been an advocate and an ally of the LGBT community my entire life,” she insisted, before again emphasizing the political pressures of a condensed campaign.
Buttigieg, for his part, has not commented on the revelation, nor has his office responded to questions about whether he was formally considered for the ticket before Harris dropped out of the race and was trounced by President Trump in the general election.
The former transportation secretary had long been rumored to be in the mix, and his exclusion now appears less about qualifications and more about optics — something Harris readily admitted.
While her honesty may be lauded by some, the admission also reinforces criticism that the Democratic Party’s identity politics approach creates a hierarchy of representation where even allies become liabilities when too many boxes are checked.
As Harris attempts to rebrand through her book tour, this episode may haunt her — not for what it says about Pete Buttigieg, but for what it reveals about the cynical lens through which her campaign viewed voters.